Friends helping friends
IT’S ALL ABOUT friends helping friends do business with the Massachusetts Legislature.
Salvatore F. DiMasi is now ex-speaker of the House of Representatives for one simple reason: He allegedly helped friends push legislation on behalf of their clients.
Now, lawyers for DiMasi & friends are staking their defense on narrow, technical arguments.
DiMasi acted within the confines of state law when he allegedly took payments from a Canadian software company that ultimately won contracts with the state, said his lawyer, Thomas Kiley.
Richard Vitale, DiMasi’s friend and former accountant, didn’t have to register as a lobbyist when he represented a ticket brokers association, because he worked fewer than the 50 hours that trigger the requirement to register, said his lawyer, Martin Weinberg.
But legal technicalities do not disguise the truth of what seemed to be happening under the Golden Dome.
A powerful House speaker allegedly promoted laws that helped his friends and their clients.
In the case of
And in the case of the Massachusetts Ticket Brokers Association, DiMasi and his top lieutenant, Representative Thomas M. Petrolati, were far more involved in helping the group push legislation than was previously disclosed. They discussed the ticket broker legislation several times, even while on vacation. So far, there are no charges against DiMasi regarding this case.
Remember: It’s all about friends helping friends do business with the Massachusetts Legislature.
Vitale represented the ticket brokers. So, when the head of the group e-mailed Vitale with suggested changes on a Monday, the “changes requested by the speaker’’ were made by Friday, says an e-mail presented in court by lawyers for Attorney General Martha Coakley.
Petrolati was reappointed speaker pro tempore by new House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo. Why, given Petrolati’s connection to DiMasi and the ticket brokers? Why has DeLeo hung onto Petrolati, his titular second in command?
Other serious questions arise out of this tangle of Beacon Hill relationships.
Why is Vitale the only one indicted - and on such a secondary charge as failing to file as a lobbyist - when Thursday’s court hearing shows that DiMasi was as intricately involved with the ticket brokers’ legislation as he was with Cognos?
Is Coakley walking yet another line - trying to look tough on white-collar crime while holding back on a true prosecutorial punch?
DiMasi is gone, but has anything changed on Beacon Hill? Is there really a new attitude? An ethics reform bill is still in the works. But it takes more than new law to change old culture.
While it will be interesting to see whether lawmakers act to truly tighten loopholes or whether they duck, all the talk of “ethics reform’’ dodges the real issue.
Certain actions can be deemed “illegal.’’ But in a practical sense, “ethics’’ cannot be decreed. Ethical behavior is a mindset. It’s a way of thinking about right and wrong, with a specific overlay for elected officials.
Who comes first - the people I know or the people I represent, including those who voted for someone else?
What is the definition of loyalty - first helping friends who want something from government or first helping the friendless who need something from government?
What is power - the ability to enrich a small circle of insiders or the strength to say “no’’ to the connected out of respect for the unconnected?
Changing existing law can make it harder for lawyers to find loopholes on behalf of disgraced politicians. But what really must change are public expectations. The voters have been electing people who believe in friends helping friends do business. Beacon Hill’s culture won’t change, as long as Beacon Hill’s players remain the same.
Changing the law is less important than changing the prevailing principles of those who are sent by the people to do the people’s business. The people’s business should be bigger than friends helping friends.
Joan Vennochi can be reached at vennochi@globe.com. 